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I went to the police because I was hearing stories about myself and many people were contacting me.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A man whose Capitec bank account was used to receive money from investors in a cryptocurrency scam claims criminals stole his personal details after robbing him at gunpoint.

Sandile Unruly Matsheke (26) communicated with The People’s Eye via Facebook this week and could not be interviewed as he claimed that he did not own a phone.

Theapool – the company behind the scam – provided investors with Matsheke’s bank account to deposit money to participate in a cryptocurrency mining scam. Theapool sold virtual mining machines at prices ranging from R330 to R110 000. Investors needed to download an app on their cellphone and start their machines at a particular time every day to mine cryptocurrency day and night with promises of huge profits after 100 or so days. Theapool promised investors a 500% return after 100 days on their investments.

A $160 (R3520) machine, for example, could generate you R17 600. These returns appeared too good to be true but people keen to make a quick buck were hooked. 

Investors had been threatening to track Matsheke down in the Western Cape, Ward 33 (Weltevreden Valley North) at 5926 Coline William Street, where he is believed to be staying since they realised in January that they had been scammed. Investors realised they were being scammed around January 20 this year when they could not make withdrawals or receive profits that they were promised.

At that time TheaPool had introduced new machines, which promised investors massive profits in five days. The investors rushed to buy them in numbers and, to their surprise, Theapool deactivated its app, apparently after achieving its targets.

Matsheke said that he did not know what Theapool was. “To tell you the truth, bro, I don't even know what that is. I lost my card last year. Actually, I was robbed at gun point by one Chinese and two black guys,” Matsheke said.

“They asked me to get inside their car, then they took my phone and wallet. They asked for my pin and I gave them,” he added.

Matsheke gave The People’s Eye a copy of his affidavit he made to the local police in January. He said that he did not use his account after he was mugged.

“I went to the police because I was hearing stories about myself and many people were contacting me,” Matsheke said.

TheaPool lured investors with claims that it was properly registered both in both Singapore (its headquarters) and South Africa. They even provided fake registration documents on a WhatsApp group that The People’s Eye had seen.

According to a 2023 research by Sumsub, a transaction monitoring and verification services provider, South Africa experienced a 25% surge in fraud cases pertaining to the crypto-currency sector during the last quarter of the year. The research focused on fraud trends that emerged during the first half of 2023, based on an analysis across South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria. It found that Africa’s rapidly-evolving digital landscape a double-edged sword as it opened new doors for innovation, but also become a hotbed for evolving fraud tactics.